| 2GL | Second-generation language |
| 3GL | Third-generation language |
| 4GL | Fourth-generation language |
| 5GL | Fifth-generation language |
| ABET | Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology |
| ANSI | American National Standards Institute |
| CASE | Computer-aided software engineering |
| CM | Configuration management |
| CORBA | Common Object Request Broker Architecture |
| COTS | Commercial off-the-shelf |
| DoD | Department of Defense |
| HOL | High order language |
| I-CASE | Integrated CASE |
| IEEE | Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| INEEL | Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory |
| ISO | International Standards Organization |
| LOC | Lines of code |
| MIS | Management information system |
| SASEA | Selecting Appropriate Software Engineering Assets |
| SEPR | Software Engineering Plan Review |
| SQL | Structured Query Language |
| WWW | World Wide Web |